2020's Largest And Brightest Supermoon, Rare 'Pink Moon' Will Appear Tonight

Apr 07, 2020 by apost team

In what will be the brightest lunar event of the 2020 year, stargazers everywhere can expect a “pink” supermoon in the night sky on April 7th and 8th. People should be able to see the enlarged moon from home regardless of whether they live in the city or not.

A supermoon describes the moment that the moon reaches its closest point to earth during its orbit, according to Smithsonian Magazine. With that said, supermoons are perhaps not as spectacular as they sound since they are only about seven percent larger and 15 percent brighter than the average full moon.

While astrologer Richard Noelle introduced the now popular and more colloquial term supermoon, the technical term for the astrological event is “perigee-syzyg,” according to Smithsonian Magazine. The term perigee describes a moon that is in its closest point in orbit. At this stage in its orbit, the moon appears to change in size because the orbit isn’t perfectly circular. That means that the moon can be closer or further to the earth, depending on where the moon is in its elliptical orbit. Back in 2016, scientists observed the closest supermoon ever, which was around 221,000 miles from earth compared to the moon’s apogee this year in March — when its furthest from earth — which was around 252,707 miles away. As one astronomer explained back in 2016, the term supermoon isn’t exactly scientific.

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“It didn't have much science behind it, except that he coined a term for when the moon was full, when it was 90 percent of the closest distance it could be to Earth. And a couple of years ago, it just caught on,” Jackie Faherty, an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History, told NPR. “I think it's just because someone took the word 'super' and put it in front of the word 'moon.'”

Beyond being a supermoon, some are also calling the April 7 lunar event a pink moon, though that name is also a bit misleading. The moon’s “pink” designation doesn’t derive from its color; rather, it gets its name from the pink flowers that bloom during the spring. In other words, the moon on April 7 will be orange earlier in the evening and white later at night — as usual.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, there are a plethora of unscientific names for April moons, which all seem to allude to the season. There’s the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Fish Moon and even the Egg Moon. For avid stargazers, other notable night sky occurrences this month include the Lyrids meteor shower, which will peak on April 22 and 23, as well as a clear view of the planet Venus next to the Seven Sisters star cluster.

The Independent reports that the best time to see this month’s supermoon will be at moonrise on Tuesday or at moonset on Wednesday, with its peak illumination taking place around 6 p.m. GMT.

Have you ever seen a supermoon? Will you go out tonight to see this one? Tell us what you think and make sure to let your friends and family members know about this lunar event.